Apple and Cheese Festival

Today we went to the Apple and Cheese Festival in Canton, PA, not far from the NY border.  It was much more seasonal up north, with the colors being at peak season...it was beautiful.  This festival was all about food and crafts-there were no rides (phew-small thanks for that), and the festival itself was quaint and pretty.  It was set on some farmland at the base of a gorgeous mountain and there were pastures of sheep and cows against the fall colors.  While I didn't get many photos of the landscape, I did get these...

I'm the luckiest mommy in the world!

Okay, so in lieu of rides we decided that Mitchell would love some face painting.  He wanted to be painted as a panda bear (his latest obsession-he makes me call him "little panda" around the house all the time).  Even though the artist didn't have a panda to choose from, she winged it and did her best.  While in Mitchell's mind he looked like the prettiest, most handsome panda he had ever seen, Reese and I thought he looked more like a beat up dalmation/wounded cat/Joker-wanna-be.  That didn't matter though...Mitchell was on top of the world.

He was obsessed with looking at himself and ORDERED Daddy to move the rear view mirror in the Jeep just-so, so that he could look at himself the entire way home.  As we were on our way home I decided it might be a good opportunity to explain to him that come bath time tonight, the Panda mask would have to be washed off.  Yeah, yeah, whatever Ma...he just took it in stride.  But when the time came tonight it was bath tsunami-you would have thought I was ripping off his arms and other important body parts!  He even went so far as to scream "I DON'T WANT YOU MOMMY!"   An exclamation to which I don't take lightly and will always pull at my strongest heartstrings every time he says it (which thankfully up until this point has only been a few!)

Not fair, I know, to need to wash the paint off his face, but I'll still get him another painted panda face whenever he wants it.  Or maybe I'll just tell him it's a panda and instead do something much more sinister for putting me through the torture!

Footnote:  Daddy was the absolute hero in calming our wounded panda after bath time-he took Cocoa, his stuffed blue moose, and pretended to have a conversation with Mitchell about being brave and getting over the "cleansing of the panda".  For this I love my sweet, handsome husband-he's such a fantastic father!

Okay, one more thing...on our way home, not long after we left the festival, I looked up only to see this...a pick-up truck with two very young calves in the back-yep...baby cows on a leash in the bed of the truck!  I was torn whether to laugh or call some type of animal rights group!  It was a first, but I do have to admit that the woman who was holding the leash was trying her best to make sure they were stable and comforted...ah, well, country life at it's best!